Reply

Author

Email

Date/Time

03 Aug 2015 6:00:00am

Text

PreviousMessage

Two comments:(a) the increase in population is due to births plus net immigration minus deaths. The third element of this simple equation tends to be ignored. The UN medium forecast predicts that in the 40 years between 2010 and 2050 the world's population will increase by 2.4 billion. 2 billion of that increase (83%) will occur because of an expansion in the population cohort over 40 years of age; that is, as a result of people living longer due to better nutrition and access to better health and medical services. All people in that category by 2050 are already with us. Cause for despair, or celebration?(b) Migrants coming here increase their CO2 emissions. Of course! They benefit from an improved standard of living. Do we want to deny them that privilege? CO2 emissions in developing countries (the countries where asylum seekers come from) are rising at a faster rate than levels in developed countries (where asylum seekers come to). We need to think in terms of trends, not snap-shots in time.